Pot and pan washing machines, of the type used in restaurants, institutions and other eating facilities often involve a large wash tank or basin in which water (mixed with detergent, generally a cleaning “fluid”) is circulated within a wash tank to wash the “wares” (i.e. pots, pans, utensils, flatware/silverware, etc.) to provide a washing action. One such machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,436 issued to Cantrell et al. (the “'436 Patent”), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The machine of the '436 Patent includes a wash tank with multiple jets evenly spaced apart at an elevated position along the rear wall of the wash tank. The tank is filled with water/detergent (fluid) to a level above the position of the jets. Pots and pans and other wares are placed in the wash tank, and a pump is activated to draw fluid from within the wash tank and direct it through the jets to create a jet stream. Each jet directs its jet stream toward the bottom wall of the wash tank, the bottom wall then deflects the jet stream upward and towards the front wall of the tank. The front wall then deflects the upward moving jet stream towards the rear wall of the tank, and the rear wall deflects the jet stream downward and back towards the front wall along the bottom wall. The combination of deflections of the jet stream from the bottom, front and rear walls provides a rolling washing action within the wash tank that results in effective cleaning of all surfaces of the wares being washed.
Although the prior art pot and pan washing machine disclosed in the '436 Patent provides an exceptional wash action for washing wares such as utensils (i.e. ladles, tongs, spatulas, etc.) and pots and pans, it is less desirable for washing smaller, generally heavy (relative to its size/footprint) wares and/or wares that are prone to tight stacking or nesting on top of each other such as flatware/silverware. Thus, rather than being washed using a washing machine having a wash tank filled with water/detergent, wares such as flatware/silverware is typically spray washed by placing mesh (or porous) racks of flatware/silverware in a machine (typically referred to as a “commercial dishwasher”) that sprays water/detergent over the racks of flatware/silverware from one or more jets typically located on rotating wash arms. The streams of water/detergent from such jets are ultimately deflected from their original paths by the flatware or even by the racks in which the flatware is located. Even in machines that utilize numerous jets from multiple angles, the deflections and/or nesting of like types of wares (i.e. multiple spoons stacked on top of each other) typically result in preventing portions of some pieces of flatware/silverware from becoming fully cleaned. Thus, in many restaurants/institutions, staff members will run the racks of flatware/silverware through the spray washing machine multiple times, and in some cases may even hand polish flatware/silverware that is not fully cleaned. Moreover, because most spray washing machines operate at very high temperatures to disinfect the wares, soil that is not removed during a wash cycle will tend to bake onto the ware as the ware leaves the wash section of the washing machine and enters the 180 degree F. sanitizing rinse. This makes the soil even more difficult to remove even through additional cleaning or polishing. To assist in preventing such soil bake-on problems, it is common to pre-soak flatware/silverware in a tub of soapy water prior to running the wares through a spray washing machine. Nevertheless, even pre-soaking flatware/silverware leaves soil that still cannot be removed through spray washing due to the fact that there is no mechanical wash action to aid in soil removal and further due to nesting and lack of movement of the wares which prevents the soap from coming in contact with nested surfaces of the wares.
In an attempt to take advantage of the wash action created by a wash tank type machine such as that disclosed in the '436 Patent, the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,496 (the “'496 Patent”), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, provides a powered utensil basket that captures a jet stream from the washing machine in which the basket is located to maintain the washing action of the machine within the basket. Although the powered utensil basket of the '496 Patent does provide a segregated washing area for utensils and other items that is removable from the washing machine, the basket itself is rather bulky, and furthermore is sometimes not utilized in operation. As an alternative to the basket, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/775,465 (the “'465 Application”), now U.S. Pat. No. 7,523,757, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a divider that is repositionable within a wash tank of a washing machine via a series of channels along the walls of the wash tank to provide a segregated washing area within the wash tank in which the washing action of the machine is maintained. Notwithstanding, the wash tank is often of considerable depth making it difficult to retrieve smaller items that have been loosely sprawled across the bottom of the tank. In either of the above cases, if large masses of wares such as flatware/silverware are piled into the wash tank or basket, the jet stream will tend to rush over or become diverted/deflected by the top surface of the mass of wares rather than continuing through the entire mass and around all surfaces of each individual ware. Thus, the un-exposed surfaces of the wares will never be exposed to the jet stream, and therefore are not influenced by the washing action of the machine.
While the basket of the '496 Patent and the divider of the '465 Application do at least partially utilize the washing action of the jet stream, and there is some benefit in the ware being fully submerged (i.e. soaking), the jet stream(s) still suffers from deflections that decrease the efficiency of the machine, particularly when multiple pieces of silverware/flatware are stacked close together or on top of one another. Thus, as both wash tank type and spray type washing machines suffer from similar deficiencies in cleaning parts such as silverware/flatware, it is desirable to provide an apparatus and method for washing silverware/flatware that provides increased cleansing efficiency/effectiveness over machines and mechanical/non-mechanical washing methods of the prior art.